I’ve not made these for ages, not sure why except that we are able to buy huge tins of them from Bakaliko Greek American Delicatessen
Anyhow, I’ve been using this recipe since the early 90′s and whilst the rolling of them is a little fiddly, the rest is easy as and they are certainly delicious.
Recipe for Stuffed Vine Leaves (Dolmades)
Ingredients:
- 1/2 Cup long grain white or brown rice
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Fresh vine leaves (if available) although I usually use ones that have been puchased and are in brine and just make sure I rinse them really well
- Pine nuts
- Black currants
- Cayenne pepper
- I generaly guestimate the amount of currants and pine nuts.. i like the currants so tend to be somewhat heavy handed with them lol
Method:
- Boil the rice with the cinnamon stick.
- Remove the cinnamon stick and mix the pine nuts and currants into teh rice and allow to cool
- Take a vine leaf and place it infront of you, flat on your work surface with the vein side up and the stem towards you.
- Place a dessertpoon of the rice filling onto the leaf, near the stem.
- Start to roll the leaf up away from you and after one full roll, fold the right and left sides of the leaf into the middle.
- Then continue to roll it up, to create a nice, tight, neat parcel.
- Place the rolled vine leaves in a flat layer into a greased saucepan with the folded edge on the bottom.
- You can stack these on top of each other but layer them evenly.
- Once completed cover with a mix of garlic, fresh lemon juice, olive oil and some water and place a heat proof dish or plate ontop of them to weight them down in the pan.
- Bring to the boil and simmer for around 15-20mins.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Serve with hommous, flat bread and wedges of lemon.
Cheers
Whims :-))
